


threw out our cloaks and our daggers because it’s morning now

by LiteralFandomTrash247



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Domestic Bliss, Eddie Lives, F/M, Fix It Fic, M/M, Older Reddie, Post-IT Chapter Two (2019), Reddie, Stan is dead but not forgotten, its also on my tumblr lol, or as domestic as I can make it from a movie that’s horror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-24 13:22:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20706707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiteralFandomTrash247/pseuds/LiteralFandomTrash247
Summary: What if Eddie has held on just a bit longer? What if he had barely lived, hospitalized for weeks with his friends by his side? What if a certain Richie Tozier refuses to leave his side through it all?I can’t stop crying, so this is my take on a fix it fic for these two pining losers. Rating is M just to be sure, but like I can’t write smut (if I ever do the rating will change) sooooo...





	1. Hospitalized

Richie Tozier was a fucking mess all around. 

First, he threw up everywhere because of Mike’s god forsaken phone call. He didn’t even know why, at the time. First show in a while that he bombed, to nervous to do or say anything properly. So much for his confident reputation. 

Then, he drove all the way down to the shithole town that he grew up in. Which he only realized just then. Just arriving in Derry stirred some memories right up. Some good, some not so much. Nothing too awful yet, except the looming fear and dread everyone felt. 

And then he walked into the restaurant to see Eddie Kaspbrak standing right in front of him, and everything flooded back. 

“Oh right. I’m gay,” he thought. That wasn’t a new one. He had been in the closet for as long as he could remember, which was even more time now that he had returned to Derry and everything had come back in patches. But when he saw Eddie, everything flew straight back into his mind. Including his huge crush on Eddie that was more love than crush. 

Shit. 

The dinner had gone well, joking and having fun with the other Losers. His heart skipped a beat whenever Eddie even so much as  _ looked _ in his direction- fluttering when they arm wrestled, any time he made physical contact with Eddie motherfucking (que shitty “your mom” joke) Kasprak. But: Eddie was married. That was a shocker and a half, and though Richie never thought in a million years that Eddie could return any affection, it still stung. 

Of course, when the fortune cookies came out, all hell broke loose. 

He didn’t even want to think about that chaos, including the chaos of finding out about the murderous clown monster that they had to kill because they cut their fucking hands 27 years ago. And the sad chaos of finding out about Stan. 

Stan. Stanley. Richie’s best friend as a kid (of course Eddie was that too, along with Bill, but Eddie was different, and though it was 27 years ago, and they were way over it, Richie still held some contempt for Bill over the fight they had then. So Stan. 

But now Stan was gone, and everyone was devastated. They were all handling it in all sorts of ways, most of them drinking down their pain once they got straight to the hotel, but everyone was dealing with it. Stan would not be forgotten. They would not forget again. 

The next day was a nightmare of course, going to the Neibolt shack and fighting the god forsaken clown. And facing It beforehand while in town looking for his weird object thing that he apparently needed. The words stung in his brain.  _ I know your secret _ . Richie was always scared of clowns. It didn’t help that he was nearly killed by one several times. 

And  _ then _ he got trapped in the deadlights. 

He saw things in there, horrible, horrible things. He watched Stan die. He watched them all die. It was horrific, and he’d never forget it again. It felt like ages that he was trapped in the gaze of the deadlights, hovering like 20 feet off the ground. But really, it was only a little bit, because his fucking knight in shining armor Eddie came in and stopped that. Hovering over him with the biggest, cutest grin on his face, so confident that he just beat It. 

Richie didn’t want to remember what happened next. 

The weird talon-like thing that stabbed Eddie right in the chest. The splatter of Eddie’s blood in him as he stared into the panicked expression of the love of his life. The fear in his eyes. When he was tossed about the room like a ragdoll. He didn’t want to remember, yet he couldn’t forget. 

Richie didn’t leave Eddie’s side until it was absolutely necessary. He didn’t do it until he was needed by his friends to kill It once and for all. Then it was right back to Eddie. 

Thankfully, he was still muttering little incoherent phrases, meaning he was alive. For then. 

After using Richie’s jacket to try to staunch the blood flow, the rest argued about who should carry him, until Richie broke through all of them and said he’d do it. Nobody argued. Bev immediately called 911 as soon as she could. Richie rushed onto the ambulance before they could stop him, and everyone else agreed they’d meet them there. 

It was torture to see Eddie be whisked into surgery; to know he was probably in pain, and had a low chance of living. Eddie slumped into a hospital chair, and he waited. 

Eventually he was allowed to stay in Eddie’s room, with enough convincing, and that he did. He spent all of his time there, sleeping there, eating (barely) there. The one time he left was to take a shower, and he came straight back afterwards. It had been about 4 or 5 days in the hospital (he lost count), but it felt like an eternity. 

That’s where he was now, slumped in an uncomfortable hospital chair (not like he minded much), asleep at night in Eddie’s hospital room. 

He had spent the whole day staring at him, his friends coming and leaving. Eddie was their friend too, but they were also sorting out their situations and stuff; where they were going after Eddie wakes up and is out of the hospital. Richie should probably be doing that too, calls from his manager getting incessant, but his only care was Eddie. Only Eddie. It had always been Eddie. 

Even when he couldn’t remember; it had been Eddie. When there was something missing from his lame life. Eddie. When he remembered.  _ Eddie _ . That night at the hotel, knowing Eddie was only a few rooms away.  _ Eddie, Eddie, Eddie.  _

Eddie was his everything. 

~

Eddie’s eyes slowly blinked open, greeted immediately by darkness. 

It wasn’t completely pitch black, but it was pretty dim. He could make out a shape slumped in a chair next to him. At first, his chest filled with disappointment as he believed it was his wife. Why was he disappointed? It was his wife. But when he looked closer, he realized that the figure was too slim. Plus, they were asleep. Myra would never sleep in the hospital unless she was the one sick or injured. Upon further inspection, he realized that it was Richie. 

_ Richie.  _

Richie fucking Tozier. What was Richie doing there? Eddie didn’t even remember why he himself was in… 

Oh. 

_ Oh!  _

Everything came back to Eddie that moment.  _ Everything.  _ The clown. The damned town. Richie hanging in the air, haze trapped directly in the deadlights. Being stabbed by It. He couldn’t recall much of anything after that. 

A warm feeling blossomed in his chest when he looked back at Richie, still fast asleep in the chair, which he could only assume was very uncomfortable. Richie was there with him. He was glad. Glad to have a friend there with him. That was it. Right? 

He doesn’t think about it more, because he compulsively decides to wake Richie up. 

“Rich. Richie.” He whispered into the darkness. Richie gave a jolt, and jumped from his seat. 

“What? What happened?” He whipped his head around in confusion. Eddie waved. 

“Down here, Rich.” Richie gazed at Eddie, wide eyed. Before Eddie could do or say anything (probably make fun of him) he was enveloped in Richie’s strong embrace. 

“Eds, oh my god Eds! I can’t believe you’re awake! The doctors told me you were gonna live, but part of me didn’t believe them and-” he was cut off by Eddie placing a hand over his mouth. Richie gazed back at him. 

“Shut up. Also Don’t call me that.” His face contradicted his words. He was happy. He almost didn’t notice how close he was to Richie.  _ Almost.  _ He didn’t realize until Richie pulled fully away, dragging his chair as close as he could to Eddie’s bed. 

“How are you feeling, Eds?” Eddie just rolled his eyes at the nickname, and smiled. 

“Like shit. Like someone is pressing on my chest and making it hurt.” He sees Richie’s worried expression, and adds, “I’m fine, though.” Richie nodded, and then grinned once again. 

“Hey, I know the feeling,” Eddie raised his eyebrow, intrigued. “It really presses on my chest when I’m under your mom-” 

Eddie slapped him. 


	2. Bev Can See It

Eddie’s phone rang for the 5th time in the past 2 hours. 

He gazed at it, looked at the number once, and silenced it. With a huff, he turned back to Richie, who raised an eyebrow. 

“That’s, what, like the hundredth time this day? You ever gonna call her back?” Richie questioned. Eddie sighed, and looked anywhere but Richie. 

“I-I don’t know… I don’t really want to.” He finally looked back at Richie, who frowned. 

“She’s your wife.” 

“She’s… I don’t know, Rich.” Eddie shook his head, changing the subject. “Why are you still here anyways? Don’t you have a life to get back to? A job? A…a girlfriend or something?” Eddie didn’t know why he didn’t want Richie to have a girlfriend. Probably because she’s probably nice and Richie probably left in a hurry, and she probably feels terrible.

“Girlfriend?” He laughed. “Closest I’ve ever had to a girlfriend is an iguana I got 5 years ago that died. Her name was Iggy.” He smiled sadly. Eddie snorted. “What?” Richie asked. 

“Iggy is the most unoriginal name for an iguana ever.” He laughed. Eddie was also just trying to cover his weird relief that Richie didn’t have a girlfriend. Richie grumbled. 

“Shut up. She was beautiful.” 

“How’d she die?” Eddie asked, half curious half wanting to be teasing. 

“That’s not something you can just fucking ask someone! What if I wasn’t over it?” Richie grumbled more, and Eddie smiled. He was cute when he was all aggravated. But then again, most people were. 

“So you are?” 

“Yeah, well…” It seemed that Richie couldn’t come up with something else snarky to say, so he just answered what Eddie had asked. “She got sick. It was really sad at the time. I’m over it now, but it was almost a tipping point for me back then.” He looked around, obviously not enjoying the current topic of conversation. Just then, their friends burst through the door in a loud bustle of noise. They paused when they saw the contents of the room. When Richie saw them, he leaned back, relieved. They all grinned at them. 

“Are we interrupting something?” 

~

Beverly had some suspicions about the relationship between Richie and Eddie. 

It had first been brought up to her by Stan when they were kids. He had mentioned how Eddie and Richie bicker like an old married couple, but both probably love each other to death. She wasn’t sure if he meant like family or otherwise. She wasn’t even sure if she herself thought he meant it like family, back then. And when she remembered, that also came back. How much Eddie and Richie bickered. 

She was estranged at first. She couldn’t quite remember now, but subconsciously she must have thought that Eddie and Richie liked each other, because her surprise when Eddie mentioned he was married was greater than ‘wow you were able to get a wife haha’ and maybe more like ‘I know you forgot and stuff but you and Rich were pretty close so I’m confused here’. 

But now, she looked on at how Richie refused to leave Eddie’s side. How his first and only priority besides getting rid of the motherfucking clown was Eddie, only Eddie. How he carried him out of the house on Neibolt, confident and concerned and fast, and so, so scared. Bev could see it. She wasn’t sure who else saw it immediately, if anyone, but she did. She looked at how he refused to leave Eddie’s side at the hospital when Eddie was still unconscious, leaving exactly once to shower. The Losers brought him food, but he hardly ate. He just stared blankly at Eddie most of the time, the going ons of his brain a complete mystery. 

Bev felt bad for Richie. She knew that if Ben was the one in the hospital, she would be in the same position. She recognized how much Richie loved Eddie. Stan wasn’t there to tell her that time, she didn’t need him to be. In his broken state, Richie’s actions spoke volumes. 

When Eddie woke up, it was hard not to see how much Richie improved. He wasn’t like what he had been at the restaurant the first night, those were different people who didn’t know what they were in for soon. But he was happy. He still didn’t leave Eddie’s side very much, but Eddie had convinced him to take a shower and was always so hard on him for not eating so much so that Richie had started eating better. Bev had seen Eddie convince Rich to eat, and it was a cute scene. Teasing galore. Their whole relationship summed up by it, if you made sure to include a classic ‘your mom’ joke. 

She hadn’t asked the other losers what they thought, as it want exactly her business, but she was pretty sure they saw it too. Especially when they walked in on Eddie and Richie chatting. 

That day was a great example of it. They walked in on Richie and Eddie inches apart, having what looked like a pretty heartfelt conversation. They, of course, broke apart hastily once the Losers entered, blushing. Bev wasn’t sure if they were obliviously pining, or had already started making out like weirdos, but she had to assume the former. Those dumbasses couldn’t see the compatibility from a foot away. 

“Are we interrupting something?” Bev asked, grinning wickedly. She made eye contact with Ben, who looked confused. Oh sweet, nieve Ben. So he didn’t get it. But one eye roll from Mike, and she recognized she was not the only one who saw it. Richie and Eddie had indeed scrambled away from each other, and both scowled at their friends that had just arrived. 

“Oh fuck off Beverly.” Eddie groaned. Bev giggled, making her way into the room whilst dragging Ben by the wrist. Bill and Mike entered after them, and there sat the Losers. Everyone but Stan. 

“So, Eddie? You feeling b-better?” Bill asked. Eddie shifted his head indecisively, sneaking a glance at Richie that Beverly was able to catch and smile at. 

“Your stutter’s gotten better, Bill.” Ben observes, and all the Losers collectively realize that it had. They all grinned at Bill, who scratched the back of his neck with a smile. 

“I don’t know if you guys noticed, but the night in t-the restaurant, I wasn’t stuttering almost at all. The fear came back and restarted it, but now that it’s okay; now that we’re okay, it’s gotten b-better.” Everyone was happy for Bill. Getting over their fears was something each Loser was still trying to accomplish, and they were glad that at least one of them had made progress. The others had made progress too, and slowly but surely, everything was balancing out.   
  


“Well, this guy right here,” Richie slapped Eddie on the back, resulting in a sharp glare his way, “Is almost clear to leave this dump.” 

“If this is a dump, why’ve you been here for days, fucker.” Eddie grumbled at Richie while also looking curious. Richie just smirked. 

“I gotta watch out for ya Eds. Every Stepdad has to watch out for his Stepson.” Eddie groaned in light of Richie’s joke. 

“Beep beep Richie, you can stop with the mom jokes every fucking second.” 

“Nah, I don’t think I will.” Richie snickered as Eddie began to grasp at him angrily. The Losers laughed at the spectacle, and Bev grinned. Surely anyone could see how close Eddie and Richie were, both figuratively and literally. 

The Losers were family. She hoped they would stay that way forever. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My friend told me Bev would be the captain of the Reddie ship and she’s so right I just had to write a chapter showing that. Still working out the kinks with working with Ao3 (this really is like my first thing on here bc I have no idea what’s going on with Voltage rn) ((Voltage is my other series))   
Anyways! Thank you so much for the Kudos! It means a lot. This is going places, and I have some pretty nice plans for it. It’s generally a fluffy story, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be angst strewn about! Teehee ;)


	3. Goodbye Myra Kaspbrak

Richie leaned back in his chair listening to Eddie’s doctor. 

“You’ll be able to leave Sunday. We’ll talk more about how to dress the wound, and what to be careful of, but I just wanted to tell you. You’re looking good, though I’m sure you have been told that your chest will be scarred for the rest of your life.” Eddie nodded, and the doctor nodded back, exiting. He was oddly silent. 

“You good, Eds?” 

“Yeah…” Eddie stared at his lap. “I was just thinking… I might want to call my wife.” Richie’s heart plummeted. He almost was able to entirely forget Myra Kaspbrak, keyword  _ almost _ . He was a bit worried that Eddie would want to see her, and a bit relieved when he didn’t show many signs of wanting to at all. But this had to happen eventually. 

“Sure, Eds. She must be worried sick.” Eddie shook his head once again. 

“I don’t really care. I… I just want to call her to break things off.” Richie looked at Eddie, mouth agape and eyes wide. He was going to leave his wife? Part of him wanted to jump up and celebrate, because not only was he helplessly in love with Eddie Kaspbrak  _ god that was weird to be straightforward about  _ but Myra also sounded like a bitch. She absolutely did not sound like anyone Richie would ever consider dating. Not like Richie would date anyone but Eddie anyways. 

“You’re really gonna divorce your wife?” Richie asked, just to be sure. 

“Yeah. She’s not the best, but I think I’ll tell her to come and see me one last time. I’ll tell her that I want a divorce and offer to see her one last time. If she refuses, then whatever. But she’s not all bad, and I don’t want to destroy her.” Eddie’s wife may not have been Richie’s favorite topic of discussion, but his heart melted when he saw how kind Eddie was being, even to his bitchy wife. Eddie was such a good person. Richie knew he could never add up to be anything near as good of a person as his Eddie was.  _ Woah woah woah. Not  _ ** _your_ ** _ Eddie. Slow down.  _

“Rich? Rich, you good?” Eddie waved a hand in front of Richie’s face with a scowl. “Richie you bitch answer me.” Richie stirred from his thoughts, looking up at Eddie for only a second and yet feeling much better. He stared for what seemed like forever, but was probably only a few fleeting moments. Eddie hadn’t changed much in 27 years. Ben changed, Bev changed a little, Bill definitely changed, Mike changed, but Eddie was just Eddie. Eds. Spaghetti. He still had the sort of fire in him, the kind that would knock Richie’s glasses off, the kind that he first fell in love with so long ago. The kind he was still in love with. 

“I swear you aren’t even trying to listen to me today.” Eddie pouted as Richie broke from his trance.  _ Cute _ . He shook his head fondly as he looked back at Eddie. “I was talking about my wife? Remember? I think I’m gonna call her now.” Richie nodded, and he watched Eddie move towards his phone, movement speed slower, not only because of the injury. 

~

“Eddie Bear! Where on Earth are you?!?” Myra greeted just as Eddie pressed dial. He sighed. 

“Myra. I’m in my hometown, dealing with some, uh, things.” He stared at Richie, who began to act out something like they were playing a game of charades. He narrowed his eyes at the man, trying to decipher what he was saying. Richie made a movement that looked kind of like he was dying, and Eddie simply shook his head, not getting anything of what he meant. Myra was quiet for a moment (a surprising thing) and then she began to speak again. 

“But you will be home soon.” It wasn’t a question. “You’ll come home and apologize for running off, and then you will stay home with me.” Eddie felt himself becoming irritated. How did it take him this long to realize how controlling Myra was being? If he hadn’t been beconded back to Derry, would he have ever realized it? Or would he have been manipulated by the woman he no longer wished to call his wife? Thinking about it left a bitter taste in his mouth. 

“Myra, no.” 

Silence. Again. Eddie was impressed at himself for being able to shock her to silence twice. 

“What?” 

“Myra, I’ve realized how controlling you are. So I don’t want to continue to be your husband. If you act civil about this, you can come down to Derry and see me one last time. We can sort this out like rational people, and we can leave this peacefully; mutually agreeing that it is not a healthy thing to continue.” He paused for just a moment, making sure to be as neutral and civil as he possibly could, “But if you can’t, I’ll get the divorce ready, and we’ll never see eachother again. You’re a good person, Myra. I don’t want to just end it suddenly. Please.” Eddie exhaled slowly, looking up at Richie, who was staring at him. Eddie wasn’t sure what the look Richie was giving him was exactly, but he looked happy, so Eddie was contented. He heard Myra sigh from the other end of the phone, and for a second he thought maybe, just  _ maybe  _ he had won. Maybe she would agree, and there would be no struggle. 

That’s not what happened. 

Myra started  _ screaming _ . Eddie immediately held the phone away from his ear, but the sound of her screams could still be heard from it. It was not on speakerphone. Eddie saw Richie wince. He slowly moved to put it on speakerphone. 

“I can’t believe you’re leaving me! What did I ever do to you?!?” She cried from the phone. Eddie knit his eyebrows. He wanted to ramble about how there was more things she did that he could count, but he stayed silent. 

“Myra. Can you tell me one thing. One answer, and I will consider going back to New York to you.”  _ Not back home. Myra was never his home. His home was the Losers. His home was sitting in a hospital chair right then.  _ He looked up at Richie, who wore an unexplainable expression. 

“What do you need, Eddie Bear?” Myra cooed, and Eddie winced. He didn’t want to go back to her at all costs. Hopefully this would prove it. 

“Tell me the clearest answer to this: Why did you marry me?” 

Silence. 

“Because you asked, Eddie.” 

“ _ Okay _ . Okay, answer me this. Why do you love me?” 

Silence. 

To say that Eddie was okay was completely false. He held his phone in a death grip, knuckles whitening. 

“This is why, Myra.  _ This _ is why. I could have found so much more, but I settled for you because I had forgotten that there was even more!” He glanced at Richie, “I  _ have _ found more! We’ll work out the details of the divorce later, whether or not you choose to comply. I’m sorry I raised my voice, but I am not in the mood to argue with you further, goodbye.” 

He hung up. 

Eddie buried his face in his hands, crunching up into a little ball. He was filled with immense amounts of stress from the phone call, and just wanted to block everything out. 

Then, he found a hand on his back, and suddenly he realized that  _ no _ , he didn’t want to block  _ everything _ out, because Richie Tozier was  _ right _ there and he would never block Richie out. He looked up into Richie’s gaze, and softened. Richie smiled and patted him on the back. 

“You good?” It was a simple question, but Eddie wasn’t really quite sure what the answer was, so he just shrugged. 

“Dunno.” Eddie looked at his watch. “It’s late. Should probably sleep.” He yawned, and stretched out over his bed, glancing to the side, he saw Richie position himself to sleep in the hospital chair again, an unacceptable thing, so he spoke up. “Y’know, you could, uh, just…” he moved over in the bed and patted the empty space. Richie stared at him like he was a ghost or something. “Or not… I don’t kn-” before he could finish, Richie climbed into bed with him, and all of the sudden they were  _ there  _ and it was  _ weird  _ but it was also so  _ nice _ and  _ warm _ and Eddie could just-

And he fell asleep 

~

When they woke up later tangled in each other; Eddie’s face tucked under Richie’s neck, Richie’s nose nestled in his hair, limbs intertwined, Eddie could never admit it, but it was the best way he had ever woken up. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! That happened. I tried to make Myra likable, I did! She just always ends out as the enemy, doesn’t she? On another note, I’m really eager to see where this is venturing off to, and I hope you’ll go on that journey with me! I have recently had the revelation that I don’t think I’ve seen any fics have Eddie and Richie fight any more badly than bickering or being annoyed with each other, so guess who has angst ideas mwahahahaha   
Thanks for making it this far! Please do leave Kudos, and please also try to comment. It doesn’t have to be 3 straight paragraphs of critique and praise, even just a smiley face is wonderful! Anything that lets me know you enjoy this. Thanks again!


	4. That Feeling Again

When Eddie was released from the hospital, it was a lot more underwhelming than he had expected. 

He was practically carried by Richie out the hospital, who became the most worrisome person on the planet as he fretted for Eddie. 

“I can get myself, asshole. I’m not  _ crippled _ .” Eddie sneered as Richie extended a hand again. Richie knit his brows, but pulled away. 

When they made it out, Richie’s car was humming ready in front of them, waiting. Richie helped Eddie into the passenger seat, and then slipped into the driver position. 

“Ready to leave, Eds?” Richie grinned at his friend. Eddie rolled his eyes. 

“Yes. Also, don’t call me Eds.” He scolded Richie, but it was fond. He felt content with Richie. Like a strange warmth in his chest bubbling with excitement. He couldn’t describe it. Richie laughed, a hearty, healthy laugh, and smiled at Eddie. There it was again. Even stronger. That  _ feeling _ . Eddie smiled back, and Richie pulled out of the hospital parking lot as they left all of the hurt behind. 

~

When they entered the townhouse, all of their friends were there to greet them. 

“Congrats!” They shouted to Eddie with glee, making their way towards him to give a gentle pat on the back or hug. Richie stood back to let it happen, and smiled at his friends. He really did love them. And Eddie. Especially Eddie. Eddie glanced at him amidst the chaos, with a small smile, and Richie’s heart nearly  _ exploded _ .  _ That _ was the shit that would kill him one day. No drinking or some other bad shit. Eddie Kaspbrak. Looking at him. Smiling. 

“Richie, get in here!” Mike shouted, and then Richie was in the group hug too, pressed in the middle somehow next to Eddie himself. He hoped nobody could see the light flush of his cheeks, squished so close to Eddie. When the group drew apart, they all grinned happily. They may have still lost Stan, but the rest of them were still alive. The feeling of relief was contagious. 

“Uh…” Ben seemed to start, looking at all of the Losers. “Bev and I have been talking, and…” He looked at her for help. She smiled, and continued his statement. 

“Ben and I were talking about leaving tomorrow.” She slipped her hand into his, “Together.” The couple blushed as they told their friends, who caught on immediately. 

“You didn’t have to put on a show, Bev. It was pretty fucking obvious that you two were hopelessly in love for a while now.” Everyone laughed at what Richie said, but he wasn’t looking at everyone. He was looking at Eddie. Eddie was laughing too. It was beautiful. 

“Beep Beep, Tozier.” Bev laughed, still clutching Ben’s hand. “But yeah. We’re gonna head out tomorrow for sure. Plane tickets and everything. Headed to L.A. to Ben’s place.” Her expression grew solemn. “I have to get my divorce worked out. But Ben’s gonna help, so it’ll be fine.” The group smiled as Ben and Bev looked at eachother, very much in love. Richie ached for the same thing. With a certain someone who stood in the same room as him then. 

“I’ll probably leave tomorrow then, too.” Bill spoke up. The group turned towards him. “I should probably get on set before they decide to take the ending into their own hands.” He looked down at his feet. “My wife’s there, too. I should get back to her.” Everyone was supportive. Of course they were. How could they not be? 

“I’ll need time to pack up my stuff I guess.” Mike started. “I’m gonna leave this mess of a town.” Everyone cheered for him. 

“Nice going man!” Eddie grinned at Mike, and Richie felt a small pang of jealousy.  _ No, stop…  _ Richie just shrugged it off. 

“So what’s up for you, Eds? Got a second opportunity somewhere?” Richie smirked. Eddie rolled his eyes. 

“Don’t call me Eds. And… uh, no.” Eddie shuffled his feet, looking uncomfortable. Richie quickly changed the subject. 

“Well then! We should have one hell of a last day together, eh? Before everyone leaves.” Richie cheered, and everyone joined in. “And let’s  _ not _ do Chinese this time!” Everyone cheered again, laughter dancing in between. They certainly would never eat at a Chinese restaurant again. 

“There’s another good place nearby. We could maybe pick up the food this time, so when we all inevitably get drunk and get 10 times louder, we aren’t disturbing anyone.” Mike spoke. Everyone agreed, and the plans were set. 

“I can’t drink, just saying.” Eddie spoke up, and Richie scoffed. 

“Sure you can, Eds.” Eddie frowned at the nickname, and probably also at what Richie was saying. 

“No, dumbass. I’m on medication.” 

“Oh.” Everyone laughed at that, probably glad  _ they _ weren’t on medication. Richie certainly was. 

The atmosphere was so joyful, Richie almost forgot about the absence of Stanley, until he didn’t. It all came down on Richie. Stan being dead; not being there. Not having had a proper long shower in a long time. Richie’s happy facade cracked, for just a moment, and he exhaled sharply. 

The only one to notice was Eddie. 

“You okay, Rich?” Eddie asks gently. He looked into Richie’s eyes sincerely, and Richie stared straight back.  _ Haha, straight. Yeah right.  _

“Uh, yeah.” He lied. “I’m just a little tired. I think I’m going to lie down for a bit before we go.” He waved himself off quickly from the group, and heads to his room. 

When he crashes on his bed to cry, he doesn’t think anyone hears him. 

~

Someone does. 

Eddie followed Richie upstairs as soon as he could. He hoped the others didn’t notice his urgency.  _ He _ certainly noticed that something was up with Richie, and a small, selfish part of him wanted to see him alone. To be with him alone. To comfort him. Alone. 

_ Okay, okay. What the fuck is up with me.  _ Eddie thought.  _ I have been very weird lately.  _

He brushed it off again, and hovered over Richie’s door. He didn’t want to invade. But when he heard sniffling coming from inside, Eddie became worried. He knocked. 

“Rich? You good in there?” Eddie worried. He didn’t get a response, but there was some hurried scrambling, and before he knew it, Richie had opened the door and faced him. 

“What do you want?” He looked terrible. Eyes red, hair all messed up, Richie was a mess. 

_ But he still looks good  _ Eddie’s thoughts flew around in his brain. 

“You ran off in a hurry. I… wanted to make sure you were okay.” Eddie shuffled his feet. He looked up to greet Richie’s soft expression, and Eddie felt the strange pang in his chest again. He ignored it again. 

“I’m good, Eds.” They stared at each other some more, promptly realized it had been a bit too long, and looked away, blushing. “You could, uh… come in?” Richie offered, and Eddie happily obliged, slumping into an armchair in Richie’s room. Richie sat himself on the bed, and they basked in the awkward silence of the room. 

“Why were you crying?” Eddie broke the silence. Richie looked away, like he was trying to avoid the question. 

“I—uh…” 

“Richie, it’s fine. I’m here.” He leaned forward in the chair, really trying to be sincere and helpful towards Richie. “You can tell me.” 

And so he did. 

Richie started to sob as he spilled his guts to Eddie, what was upsetting him, and how weak and vulnerable he felt. Eddie got up, and sat next to Richie as he did. He pulled him into a hug, and they sat there, curled around each other, for a lot longer than they both would like to admit. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So!!! Another chapter. You may have noticed, I changed the name of the fic. I find fics with song lyrics more appealing, so this one’s from Taylor Swift’s Daylight, one of my favorites right now. 
> 
> Thanks for all of the wonderful comments, I really appreciate them. Feel free to leave more, and do Kudos if you haven’t yet. They both provide endless support for me. Welp! Thanks again!


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